Chris Soghoian, left, ACLU principal technologist and senior policy analyst, and Brian Owsley, former U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Texas and law professor at Texas Tech University testified Tuesday during a hearing in Lansing involving cell phone tracking devices such as Hailstorm and StingRay. (Photo obtained from recordings by House TV, Michigan legislature)

Tom McMillin has questioned the use of cell phone tracking devices akin to Hailstorm, and has been considering legislation involving penalties for misuse of the military grade devices. (Photo obtained from the Michigan House Republicans, gophouse.org)

Cell phone Tracking by the numbers

• About 12: Total number of law enforcement agencies in the country who own a Hailstorm device

• $169,602: Cost of a standalone Hailstorm unit.

• 2: Number of states — Indiana and Utah — that have recently passed legislation on cell phone tracking, according to the ACLU’s Chris Soghoian.

• 200: About how many times a Tallahassee, Fla., police agency used a cell phone tracking device, such as a Sting Ray, without a warrant, according to the ACLU.

• 20: Number of years this type of equipment has been in use. Other companies have descriptions of similar tracking devices on their websites, and graduate students across the country have built their own iterations themselves, said Soghoian.

• 1: Michigan is the only state that has organized hearings over the use of these types of devices, and the Sheriff’s Office is the only law enforcement agency in the state that owns Hailstorm equipment.

Two national experts this week in Lansing told a Rochester Hills legislator that there’s a need for more openness involving the use of a cell phone tracking device called Hailstorm that’s owned by Oakland County law enforcement.

“I’ve been told to ‘Just trust us,’ but I think if law enforcement is saying they’re doing nothing wrong, they should welcome oversight,” said Rep. Tom McMillin, the Republican who chaired a House Oversight Committee hearing about the legal and privacy issues related to the Hailstorm equipment.

But Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that none of the things that were said about Hailstorm being used as a surveillance tool on innocent people is true, and there are already laws that govern the use of the device.

“Unfortunately, because of people like Tom that inflame completely false information, they’re building animosity against law enforcement,” said Bouchard. “Let me be real clear — the technology that we have does not do surveillance, it does not data mine, does not capture anyone’s personal information and it does not listen in on any phone conversation of any kind.

Advertisement

“Even when we do use this tool, it’s done with judicial oversight and strict compliance to the Fourth Amendment ... and it’s used to find fugitives.”

McMillin, who is running for Congress for Michigan’s 8th District, said he’s considering another hearing this summer, legislation involving penalties for potential misuse, and possible closed hearings with the Sheriff’s Office to learn when and under what circumstances the device is being used.

Oakland bought $363,870 in Hailstorm training and technology last year, partly through a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, but the Sheriff’s Office has said it cannot share information about what the device actually does due to federal anti-terrorism laws.

Devices akin to Hailstorm are military grade and can send out a cell tower signal, posing as carriers such as AT&T or Verizon, and get information from hundreds of cell phones in a single area, said Chris Soghoian, an ACLU principal technologist and senior policy analyst who testified at the Tuesday hearing.

“This is an invasive technology. ... These devices send signals through the walls of people’s homes, they send signals through your pocketbook, through your pockets, into your car ... these law enforcement agencies are sending signals into protected spaces,” said Soghoian, who said legislators need to strike a debate about where tracking devices should be used.

“This technology may be appropriate in Afghanistan, it may not be appropriate here in Michigan.”

Brian Owsley, former U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Texas, also testified, sharing his experience in 2012, when he denied a Drug Enforcement Administration request to use the device in a drug trafficking case.

“I was concerned that the government had no plan or thought process about what they were going to do with the third party information that was swept up” from those people not a target of the investigation, he said, noting concerns that other judges could unknowingly authorize use of similar devices.

Florida-based manufacturer Harris Corp. have sold similar devices such as the King Fish, Trigger Fish, or StingRay — but the Hailstorm device is the latest technology, and not much has been made public about it, explained Soghoian, adding, “I would love to find out more about the Hailstorm.”